staying motivated on long projects

[Roger]

How do you guys stay motivated on long projects? I am trying to post more often in my WIP thread (ideally I'd like to do twice a week) but often find that other things have a way of intruding (house cleaning, car maintenance, etc) and I may go 2 weeks without doing anything significant.

 

What keeps you slogging along?

[robcat2075]

I have tremendous trouble with that too. I try to keep my goals small so there's light at the end of the tunnel.

 

TWO gave me large-project phobia.

[zandoriastudios]

Lemme know, when you find out! I can't even update my blog once a month!

[itsjustme]

I'm just stubborn.

 

Small goals, as Robert has mentioned, will give you small victories that will keep you rolling forward. Provide yourself opportunities for positive reinforcement. If you can't see any progress, you'll get frustrated.

[Roger]

I have tremendous trouble with that too. I try to keep my goals small so there's light at the end of the tunnel.

 

TWO gave me large-project phobia.

 

 

Well, that's part of the reason I'm working on scenery and props today. I wanted something to do that didn't have to do with character modelling or rigging. I may try and do an actual animation tutorial later on so I can learn something new today. I figure at this point I'm like 85 to 90 percent done with the main characters, there are some minor characters that need to be done but screen time is not much for them so I am not going to spend a ton of time on them. The snail I did may make an appearance, as I'd like to get some use out of him (missed the contest deadline).

[HomeSlice]

Short simple pieces are definitely easier to keep at than long projects. Make a few 10-15 second shorts with no more than two characters and one simple-ish set. As your modeling and rigging chops improve, you'll start finishing these pieces in shorter and shorter amounts of time. Then try your hand at a 30 second piece. Then try a 2 minute piece. Then try a 5 minute piece. Then just go up by 5 minute increments until you find the limit of what you are able to do in what you consider a reasonable time frame.

[Darkwing]

I'm just stubborn.

 

Small goals, as Robert has mentioned, will give you small victories that will keep you rolling forward. Provide yourself opportunities for positive reinforcement. If you can't see any progress, you'll get frustrated.

 

I'm going to say things that will differ, guess I'm just an oddball

 

I have owned Animation Master for four and a half years. I have not ever completed anything at all with it. Sure, I've made some models along the way and whatnot, but I've not completed any animation project I've started. Now that would get most people down/frustrated. Now maybe this is just something in my nature, to not complete things that is, but in a way, I sort of expect not to complete something. So I keep working on it anyways, because maybe, someday, there will be that magical one that does get finished.

Take Earth-Link Zero for example. It's an insanely massive project. It's a 2 hour script, lots of characters, battles all kinds of things. I've been plucking away at it for 2 years and don't even have one official animated shot done for it. The project is looking at an approximately 20 year production time which basically equates to, it ain't gonna happen. However, even after a 3-ish month hiatus, I still pluck away at it. Perhaps it's because I've already invested so much time into it, perhaps its because I don't expect it or anything to get done, so I do it anyways. Maybe I'm just nuts. Who knows. For me it's more like I've accepted that I won't complete something, so I do it to learn, not to finish. And that is one of the reasons why I have no intentions on studying film, animation or anything like it. For me it's a hobby (that absorbs 99% of my time) and with hobbies, they don't really matter if they get completed or not. If I've learned something, than that's completion enough for me.

 

That being said, I've grown so attached to ELZ that I would love to see it finished, but there's a very fine line between reality and dreams.

[largento]

I've been working on the Wannabe Pirates for over three years now. Some days it seems much longer than that, others like much less.

 

Some of this has already been mentioned, but they are important enough to repeat.

 

1) Do something every day. Almost any project in A:M, no matter how small it may seem, is actually a large task. You can't accomplish whole projects with a sprint mentality. You will become exhausted and burned out before you complete it. Little stuff adds up over time. It's amazing how much you can accomplish a day at a time when those days add up to months and years.

 

2) Have realistic expectations. I had a similar discussion with someone in email. You get started with A:M and you realize it's possible to do all of these amazing things, but the reality is that all of these take time ...lots of time. It adds up. I remember a quote on one of the behind-the-scenes documentaries about Pixar's Wall-e. They said that if you could find a really talented individual who could do everything that needed to be done on the movie, it would take that person 154 years to complete it.

 

3) Inspiration alone won't cut it. You've got to make it a job. You absolutely need inspiration to start a project, but it will burn out long before you reach completion. There are days when you just have to get stuff done, even if you aren't particularly in the mood or excited about it. Enjoy the times when you do have inspiration, enjoy them, but don't rely on them.

 

My advice is to establish mini-goals along the way. Reachable goals that can provide you with boosts along the way. My experience is that most people I talk to have no idea what goes into doing something like this and so their only frame of reference is wondering when you'll be finished. I finally learned not to talk to those people about what I'm doing. It can be discouraging when all you get is "are we there yet?" over and over again.

 

4) Move forward. This can be the most difficult thing. It's the old adage about a painting never being finished, only abandoned. You've got to be able to recognize that something is "good enough" and move forward, or you'll get stuck in the minutia and never make any ground. You can spend hours and days on something that might only appear on screen for less than a few seconds and never even be seen by the audience. This is not a good use of what precious time you have to invest.

 

Of course, this is all just my opinion, but I disagree with Darkwing's statement about there being a "fine line between reality and dreams." In my thinking, there is a tremendously enormous gulf between the two and you have to be willing to cross every inch of it to get there.

[itsjustme]

1) Do something every day. Almost any project in A:M, no matter how small it may seem, is actually a large task. You can't accomplish whole projects with a sprint mentality. You will become exhausted and burned out before you complete it. Little stuff adds up over time. It's amazing how much you can accomplish a day at a time when those days add up to months and years.

 

I don't remember which animator mentioned this (I've watched a lot of behind-the-scenes/making-of things), but the best advice I've seen was to tell yourself you are going to work for ten minutes...it almost always turns into getting on a roll for a few hours.

[johnl3d]

I agree with David I don't seem to have much time usually and start something "quick" but it usually takes a lot longer

[Darkwing]

For da record, I meant there was a very distinct difference between dreams and reality. Personally, I never believed the whole do your dreams bit. Goals yes, ideas yes, planning yes, dreams, not so much.

[fae_alba]

If you've got yourself talked into doing a "largish" project, spend some up front time planning. Write your script, break it down into discrete scenes, storyboard, etc. Do everything studios do in pre-production; they do it for a reason. If you break your story down into scenes, or mini-projects, then create goals, or milestones. Every time you hit a milestone, you have a minor win to celebrate.

 

I've found that each project I start, I always run into trouble when I don't do this. I think, eh, it's only a 5 second animation, no problem, I know what i want to do, so I'll just bang it out. Never works for me.

[NancyGormezano]

If you've got yourself talked into doing a "largish" project, spend some up front time planning. Write your script, break it down into discrete scenes, storyboard, etc. Do everything studios do in pre-production; they do it for a reason. If you break your story down into scenes, or mini-projects, then create goals, or milestones. Every time you hit a milestone, you have a minor win to celebrate.

 

I've found that each project I start, I always run into trouble when I don't do this. I think, eh, it's only a 5 second animation, no problem, I know what i want to do, so I'll just bang it out. Never works for me.

 

Interesting. For projects that involve more than one person, the above is necessary to keep everybody coordinated.

 

For my own personal projects, however... I will lose interest very fast if I don't dive right in and seize the initial spark.

 

It may not be the most efficient way, but too much detail planning will just bore me out. I will have top-level concepts, ideas scribbled down. And I constantly refine my to-do lists, to be appropriate for the stage that I'm at.

 

"BAM the torpedos and see what pops up" is typical of my structured top-down approach!

 

And yes, I agree, break the inertia, by doing a little everyday. Eventually the enthusiasm returns if you really believe in your project.

 

There is no shame in going on to a new project either. Every unfinished project is worthwhile as a learning experience.

[fae_alba]

It may not be the most efficient way, but too much detail planning will just bore me out. I will have top-level concepts, ideas scribbled down. And I constantly refine my to-do lists, to be appropriate for the stage that I'm at.

 

Ah yes, But Nancy, don't you see that you are doing some initial planning and milestone tracking. your To-Do lists, even if mental, are milestones. I'm not saying that every project needs a formal project plan, but if the project is a "big"-ish one, then you should spend some time laying down some sort of framework to keep it moving forward.

 

One thing I didn't mention that I meant to was to give yourself some significant amount of time regularly to work on it. If you don't, life will always get in the way, and the project wilts on the vine.

 

(ee gads, I'm turning into that which I always hated, a project managing consultant!)

[ernesttx]

For Subject 99, I had break it down into small parts.

 

Since it is mostly dialog driven, I recorded all the audio parts first. This way, I felt the dialog would dictate the length of each scene.

 

Then, I would break the scene up into different shots (MS, CU, OS, etc) until I felt the cinematography was to my liking.

 

Then, I would animate each shot.

 

Then, render each shot.

 

Then, assemble rendered shots (usually at a lower grade) into video editor (sans compositing) to ensure flow of the scene and any animated errors and such.

 

Then, polish errors and re-render and final compositing and audio mixing.

 

1 scene finished, rinse, repeat for all the scenes.

 

But, pre-production is the only way to do a large project. Because, then you can see if you can reuse parts of animated shots or locations or background pictures, reuse actions, etc.

 

Get your story down first so you know the beginning and how it will end. Then, start fleshing it out in story boards for each scene.

 

I think for Subject 99, the first episode, I had over 100 shots. So, each day I would do as many as I could. Each episode took about 3 weeks. Nowadays, I don't have time to animate for 10 seconds heheh

 

OH, and look for a new episode around the first of the year

[dblhelix]

here's a tip that has to do with keeping the passion going and the forcing to a minimum;

 

first, you need to be conscious of your moods.

second, you need to structure your project planning according to types of chores.

 

for example:

you'll have different types of chores like modelling (building, visualizing, working in nanomillimeter world obeying biological/engineering laws)

there's the animating - more or less of it

the materials - some you'd need to build from scratch, some to be tweaked a bit, some you might find in libraries; very visual, to do with color but also technique)

testing your staging through the camera

the lights, you'll need your materials ready for this

 

i've found a way to navigate material so that every time i "feel in" what kind of day i'm having - where will my energies serve me best. when wide awake and hungry, go someplace difficult and conquer it, do something you've never done: study, read for something you'll do later. if you're in philosophy mode, check your script; can you make it more human, or make it more alive. when you feel like picking atoms, go do that, model. when half awake in the head but vibrating, do the most realistically physical animation, fights etc. and when you're lights out, but still functioning, do a little light animating, blinking, non-action reactions.

 

along the way, gather the last boring tweaks for nearly finished stuff into a written list for braindead days;

"remove the extra frame in end of scene 55"; "straighten the thumb in 23b in frame 18"; "have him nod twice in new shot CU 23d"

these you can tackle when you're too tired to think, but are perfectly capable of working a bit. (this chore, ticking away stuff on that list, pays massive dividends!)

 

right now i'm having high season for 2 months at day job, working 8 days a week. no animating. so i read here, post and talk to animators

Happy Holidays and a passionately productive 2011!

[Darkwing]

I find having music helps. For instance with Earth Link, there's a bunch of music for it, so I listen to it constantly and it helps keep it motivated, because someday you want to see something visual to go with the cool music

[mouseman]

Then, I would break the scene up into different shots (MS, CU, OS, etc) until I felt the cinematography was to my liking.

 

What are these acronyms/initialisms? MS, CU, OS?

[robcat2075]

Then, I would break the scene up into different shots (MS, CU, OS, etc) until I felt the cinematography was to my liking.

 

What are these acronyms/initialisms? MS, CU, OS?

 

Medium shot

Close Up

Off Screen(?)

 

 

 

interpretation of what is "medium" (waist up?) and close (head and shoulders?) vary.

[robcat2075]

this page has numerous "film script" abbreviations and has a diagram of MS, CU etc...

 

http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv013.htm

[Darkwing]

Yeah, I never heard of OS before in film terms. I was taught:

 

LS (Long Shot) - Entire scene

MS (Medium Shot) - Waist Up

CU (Closeup) - Shoulders up

ECU (Extreme Close Up) - Face or other very close object (so only eyes and nose visible, or something similar)

[mouseman]

I've heard of the close-up described as a "bust shot" or "pocket shot".

[robcat2075]

And then there's the old Hollywood MS and MOS which supposedly stood for "mit sound" and "mit out sound".

 

You have to say it with a German accent.

[ernesttx]

Sorry guys, it was an abbreviation for Over the Shoulder shot. Where the camera is set behind one character in the foreground and it is looking "over the shoulder" of the character and viewing another character. Used alot in dialog cuts.

 

^_^